Mumbai Diary: Wednesday Dossier

Pic/Pradeep Dhivar

Me time

A woman checks her phone while on a stroll at the Bandstand promenade in Bandra.

A lit list

The longlist for the Tata Literature Awards Live! has been announced. It has different categories like fiction, non-fiction, business, and first book, and the nominees include Udayan Mukherjee for Essential Items and Other Tales from a Land in Lockdown; Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni for The Last Queen; Samrat Choudhury for The Braided River: A Journey Along the Brahmaputra; and Jeet Thayil (in pic) for Names of the Women. Speaking about his nomination, Thayil shared, "My old boss and friend, Anil Dharker started this prize, which means a lot, personally. This book is a special one for me. It's something I've been meaning to do for a long time, retell the New Testament from the points of view of the women in the story, those pivotal characters who are mostly unnamed. The point of fiction is to break the old rules. That's why it's called a novel." Well said.

Lend your ears

Music, as an art form, has the power to bring people together. A three-day online festival called Art is Life: Sound Frames will celebrate that fact. It's being organised by The Museum of Art & Photography (MAP), based in Bengaluru, from December 3 to 5. The Berklee College of Music in Boston is a collaborative partner, and the programme will feature 25 events that include performances from the likes of US-based a cappella group Penn Masala (in pic) and Grammy-winner Ricky Kej. "The event is packed with a diverse line-up with something for everyone, whether you are eight or 80," shared the museum's director, Kamini Sawhney.

A Capital idea for travelling

People in queue at the Mumbai International Airport

Delhi, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu are the top five destinations that Indians have visited over the past year, after pandemic travel restrictions were lifted. That's what the results of a survey conducted by a travel company reveal, which also shows how 79 per cent of respondents visited between two to 10 states in this period. The top three motivators for people to pack their bags were scenery, food, and arts and culture. Delhi, though, held top spot in terms of being the most-visited destination, over Mumbai. In the battle between the two cities, the National Capital seems to have won this round.

Spotlight on Ray

This year, the European Union Film Festival, which entered its 26th edition last week, is paying homage to one of India's greatest ever directors - Satyajit Ray. The online event involves a screening of Pather Panchali, Ray's first movie. There will also be six contemporary Indian films that will be screened. The main attraction at the festival, however, is an Australian film called Little Joe, which follows the journey of a mother and son, as they watch a mysterious plant flower.

Two Manganiyars get their due

This diarist had once had the privilege of attending the Rajasthan International Folk Festival in Jodhpur, where he had heard a group of Manganiyar artistes lament about how - despite their marketable talents in the modern music industry - they are not given their due. That changed to a certain extent yesterday, when two artistes from the musical community were conferred with Padma Shri awards for their contribution to the art form. They are Lakha Khan (in pic) and Anwar Khan, who received the honour from the President of India, Ram Nath Kovind. The Manganiyars are secular people whose music is a reflection of this country's multi-cultural nature. Lateeb Khan, a singer and multi-instrumentalist, told this diarist how these two awards are something that his whole community is proud of. "It's something for us all to celebrate," he added.